§ Mr. Crawfordasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress has been made in Scotland towards having a unified system of housing allocation for one-parent families; and if he will give any directive to the Scottish district councils in this context.
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§ Mr. William RossAllocation policy is an aspect of housing management, which is the responsibility of local authorities. For some years, however, authorities, have, been encouraged too adopt current housing need as the overriding consideration in the allocation of their houses. I am considering in the light of the Finer Committee's recommendations whether further guidance should be offered to local authorities specifically on the allocation of council houses to single-parent families.
§ Mr. Crawfordasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the number of one-parent families per 1,000 persons in Scotland compared with England and Wales; and whether he can give the same statistics for Perth.
§ Mr. William RossAt the 1971 Census there were 150,270 one-parent families in Scotland, of which 63,730 contained one or more dependent children. The comparative figures per 1,000 persons, derived from a 10 per cent. sample, are as follows:
One-parent families per 1,000 persons enumerated* One-parent families with one or more dependent children per 1,000 persons enumerated† Scotland 29 12 England and Wales 25 12 Perth County (including Perth Burgh) 28 12 Perth Burgh 35 17 * The census definition of a one-parent family includes families consisting of a parent and one or more never-married descendants of any age. † The census definition of a dependent child includes any child aged under 15 in the family and any single full-time student aged 15 to 24 in the family.